AUGUST 5, 2017 – In an exclusive interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) supported the idea of a lawsuit over President Trump’s latest attempt to punish so-called “sanctuary cities,” arguing that it’s “something that our independent attorney general can decide, but it might just be very helpful to get into court and resolve this in a judicial forum rather than in the rhetoric of politicians talking past one another.”

“A few judicious forums to resolve this dispute between the federal government and California – I think – can be very helpful for the whole country, and in a dispassionate way,” the governor added. “Because this back and forth by politicians, it doesn't really clarify some of the difficulties of the paramount law of the federal government colliding with the sovereign law of the 50 states.”
See below for the transcript of the exchange, and watch it here: http://nbcnews.to/2vAp3kM.

Tune in tomorrow to a special “Trump, the Parties & Our Broken Politics” edition of “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” for more from Brown as well an exclusive interview with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Flake), whose book excerpt released earlier this week said the Republican Party is “in denial about Donald Trump.”
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CHUCK TODD:

There's a bill that's moving through the state legislature that would declare California a sanctuary state. You've not indicated whether you're going to be fully supportive of this just yet. Are you? Could you be? And where are you on this idea of suing the federal government over funds that they may withhold if they declare a city a sanctuary city?

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Yeah. Well, first of all, that bill does not declare California a sanctuary state, number one. Number two, it's still going through the process. We're looking at it very carefully. We're having discussions with the author. There are some changes that I think would be very important –

CHUCK TODD:

Why do you believe it isn't fair to call that that it declares California – explain why –

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Because –

CHUCK TODD:

-- that you don't like that phrase?

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Well, as a former seminarian, I have a very clear image of the sanctuary. It's in a church. It conjures up Medieval sanctuary places.
And it says more than a specific set of legislative requirements, which the goal here is to block and not to collaborate with abuse of federal power. That's the goal.
And we want to be very understanding of people who have come to our state, have worked in our economy, often for decades, picking our food, working in our restaurants, working in high tech industries, the whole range of what constitutes the life of California has been contributed to by many of these immigrants that are not documented.
And we want to make sure we help them to the extent that the law of California can coexist with the law of the United States.

So it is a balancing act. It does require some sensitivity, and that's why I take a more nuanced and careful approach to dealing with what is a difficult problem. Because you do have people who are not here legally, they've committed crimes. They have no business in the United States in the manner in which they've come and conducted themselves subsequently.
Secondly, as far as the lawsuit, that's something that our independent attorney general can decide. But it might just be very helpful to get into court and resolve this in a judicial forum rather than in the rhetoric of politicians talking past one another.

CHUCK TODD:

I guess, you know, some would respond and just say, "Look, you don't like the way the law is. Why don't we change the law rather than have a debate about how to enforce the law if there's ambiguity in there?"

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Well, wait a minute. If the law is ambiguous, we can often clarify it by litigation. This is perhaps a rather small test because the money at stake is not very much. And there is this different view. There's plenty of different views, by the way, on the environment, not just immigration, on health care, on a whole variety of topics. The current administration, under Mr. Trump, is going way, way over the deep end. So I think appropriate court challenges – by the way, the Republicans were bringing court challenges –

CHUCK TODD:

Oh yeah.

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

-- by the carload against Obama on the environment, on health care, and all the rest. So I think a few judicious forums to resolve this dispute between the federal government and California I think can be very helpful for the whole country, and in a dispassionate way. Because this back and forth by politicians, it doesn't really clarify some of the difficulties of the paramount law of the federal government colliding with the sovereign law of the 50 states.

Matthew L. Kolken is a trial lawyer with experience in all aspects of United States Immigration Law – including deportation defense before Immigration Courts throughout the United States, appellate practice before the Board of Immigration Appeals, the U.S. District Courts, and U.S. Courts of Appeals. He is admitted to practice in the courts of the State of New York, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) since 1997.